Living the Gospel: Rev. James Lawson’s Legacy and GCORR’s Call to Build the Beloved Community

Rev. Dr. James M. Lawson, Jr.

United Methodist Clergyperson
Civil Rights Activist

During the July 2024 homegoing service for Rev. James M. Lawson, Jr., in the filled-to-capacity sanctuary of Holman UMC in Los Angeles, elected officials, labor organizers, historians, professors, community and religious leaders approached the pulpit to share one example after another of Rev. Lawson’s legacy in confronting injustice and advancing social, economic, civil, and human rights.

Rev. Lawson, who died on June 9, 2024, at the age of 95, is perhaps known best as the lead strategist-trainer in the principles of nonviolent resistance to Civil Rights leaders such as the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and U.S. Congressman John Lewis.

In his remarks that day, writer and historian Jon Meacham described Rev. Lawson as a “latter-day founding father … an architect of America as worthy of our respect and reverence as Washington or Jefferson, Adams or Hamilton, Douglas or King.”

While honoring the significance of Rev. Lawson’s accomplishments, Holman UMC Senior Pastor Rev. Victor Cyrus-Franklin, in his opening remarks, said, “Rev. Lawson would always describe himself first as a pastor … and just another child of God.” (Rev. Lawson served as the senior pastor at Holman UMC for 25 years until his “retirement” in 1999.)

“So often we look at people like Rev. Lawson and make him the exception … put him up on a pedestal,” said California-Nevada Conference Bishop Sandra K. Olewine, who served as an associate pastor with Rev. Lawson.

During all his years as an activist, “Jim was calling on the sick, praying with those who needed prayers, visiting those in jail, and preaching,” she explained. “His work was grounded in his calling as a follower of Jesus.”

Early in her ministry, Bishop Olewine’s work on racial and economic injustice—while serving as the pastor of a UMC in Fontana, a city east of Los Angeles—caught the attention of Rev. Lawson. Known as the “historic home” of the KKK in the state, the community was still dealing with the latent racism of its broken past. The United Methodist Church where Bishop Olewine served was one of the few multi-racial congregations in the city.

When an opening became available at Holman, Bishop Olewine received a phone call from Rev. Lawson. Two months later, she was serving alongside him, an opportunity that “completely changed her own life and ministry,” she recalled.

Bishop Olewine often reflects on key lessons that she learned from Rev. Lawson, especially on the importance of racial equity within the Church. “Arguing” with Rev. Lawson—debating and wrestling with issues—was something he appreciated and how she learned best, she said.

One Sunday before worship, on the walk from their administrative offices toward the sanctuary, the two had a “vigorous conversation” about the new communion liturgy, which Bishop Olewine was “explaining” to Rev. Lawson.

“In a very quiet voice, Jim said, ‘Sandy, none of us were at that table. Communion has always been central to the African American community, yet we had no voice in that revision. No one asked us about its shape or form.’”

Rev. Lawson’s comments, she explained, referenced the lack of Black representation when revising the denomination’s communion liturgy. This conversation “so eloquently illustrated” the “subtle ways in which we can perpetuate, even unintentionally, racism and exclusion in matters that affect our diverse denomination. To concretely recognize who is not at the table, whose voice is not represented, what stories we are still not telling … these still prompt my ministry today.”

Being grace-filled and not judging people for “only doing this or that” is another important lesson modeled by Rev. Lawson, she added.

“He always invited people in … he never devalued even the smallest of offering. He valued people all along the way, and that’s something that he helped me to embody.”

His life’s work, Bishop Olewine emphasized, is more relevant now than ever.

“The ability to slow down enough to really think through: Who is at the table? What does the new UMC look like? How are our structures inherently built on western hegemony? We need to be able to have more conversations, to work on building consensus, something that is tough and can feel off-putting.”

“It’s not going to be easy,” she stressed. “The good thing about United Methodists, we still have diversity of thoughts and perspectives—theologically and culturally. We can model a different way, form and shape people to have civil discourse. That’s what the Gospel calls us to do; we have the chance to do that in some new ways.”

Long-time UMC staff member Frances Roberts first met Rev. Lawson while serving as the program director for civil and human rights at the General Board of Church and Society (GBCS). Roberts shared how Rev. Lawson was very interested in her work portfolio, which included issues such as abolishing the death penalty, prison reform, juvenile justice, and gun violence.

“He said the civil and human rights work was holistic work; all the issues were for all the people,” Roberts explained.

Meeting and talking with Rev. Lawson was “like knowing and understanding history firsthand,” she added. “He made you feel seen and important, just as a child of God.”

GCORR’s work—inside and out of the denomination—in helping people “see what inequality is and how to remedy it is needed more than ever,” Robert said.

“The love that is proclaimed in the Gospel is what GCORR is and has been trying to teach since its inception. We are to love one another as God loves us. In loving one another, there is no room for racism, classism, sexism, homophobia, ableism, xenophobia, tribalism … the list goes on.”

While Roberts acknowledged that the UMC is in a different place from when GCORR’s work was established in the late 1960s, the commission is still helping to build the Beloved Community, she said.

GCORR’s anti-racism work has everything to do with the Gospel and its work should be reflected in all that we do, Bishop Olewine said.

Moving forward, the work of GCORR as well as that of all the agencies and commissions should stop being siloed, Bishop Olewine said. “The work is not just one aspect of who we are; it shapes everything that we do.”

“Local gatherings of people committed to wrestling with their faith and living it out in their local neighborhoods … making them places of transformation: This is part of our Wesleyan DNA. We have what we need to ground ourselves in Wesleyan theology, to get back to who we are … I think we can begin to make a difference.”

GCORR General Secretary Rev. Dr. Giovanni Arroyo urged his fellow United Methodists to “answer God’s call to connect the current civil and human rights challenges facing us to the work that Dr. Lawson dedicated his life to achieving.”

“His life and ministry exemplified what it means to live out the Gospel through unwavering commitment to justice, equity, and the transformation of society,” Rev. Dr. Arroyo said. “His teachings on nonviolence and his relentless pursuit of racial and economic justice have not only shaped the Civil Rights Movement but continue to inspire the work of GCORR today.”

“At GCORR, we are called to carry forward his legacy by equipping United Methodists to confront injustice and build the Beloved Community—a community grounded in grace, equity, and radical love for all. Rev. Lawson showed us that this work is not just an aspect of faith, but the essence of it.”